The Utah National Guard was formally
organized March 24, 1894, however its
predecessor, the Nauvoo Legion, dates back to
1849. In response to the post World War II need
for reserve forces, the Utah Air National Guard
was formed in the winter of 1946. The Utah
Guard, in addition to serving with distinction
within the state, has seen much service in the
defense of the nation.

Activated for action in the Spanish American
War, the Mexican border War, World War I both
theaters of World War II and the Korean
conflict, Utah guardsmen fought and died with
valor. The Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Vietnam
War, and Desert Storm/Shield provided additional
opportunities for the Utah Guard to serve as a
military force defending freedom.

Humanitarian missions, nation building, and
the Military-to-Military program take the Utah
Guard from Belarus in the former Soviet Union to
Panama, Thailand, Niger, Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia
and beyond.

The Utah Army National Guard maintains 30
armories, and is present in 27 communities.

During FY99 members of the UTARNG answered
the call to serve. Whether within the borders of
our state or thousands of miles from home, our
Guard members performed with the true spirit of
the Minuteman. Utah Guard members participated
in 50 unit annual training periods within the
continental United States and over 70 overseas
deployments for training in 12 countries. They
participated in various missions including
training Thai Soldiers and building roads in
Alaska. This year the 2nd Battalion, 222nd Field
Artillery received and tested 18 of the Army 's
newest howitzers, the Paladin. The cost of each
weapon system is in excess of four million
dollars.

In addition to having an ever increasing
influence in world affairs, UTARNG equipment,
manpower and resources are used daily to
upgrade, service and protect local communities.
From Army band concerts to anti-drug programs to
building roads to feeding the homeless, Utah
Soldiers make life better for all citizens.

The Utah National Guard was
officially organized on 26 March 1894 with its
headquarters in Salt Lake City, the capital of
the territory of Utah. The establishment of the
Utah National Guard came as a continuation of
the Utah Territorial Militias which had existed
since the first settlement in 1847, and after a
long political struggle waged by the Utah people
to become admitted to the Union of the United
States. This struggle included several issues
which created problems for the militia
organization.

The heritage of the Utah National Guard comes
from the Nauvoo Legion, which was organized by
the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1840 under a
special charter granted by the Illinois
legislature. It was a special militia
organization formed to protect the community,
but it could not prevent the killing of the
Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith, nor did it make a
determined stand to defend the community from
mob violence and that plunged Illinois into a
state of open warfare. After the Mormons were
driven from Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Legion was
reorganized in Utah. Early members of the Utah
militia included veterans of the Mexican War. As
the Mormons were en route to Utah, the national
government called upon them for volunteers for
the war. These volunteers became known as the
Mormon Battalion and eventually marched to
California. From the veterans of the Nauvoo
Legion and the Mormon Battalion a new militia
organization was fashioned in Utah by
territorial law in 1852; it was still designated
as the Nauvoo Legion.

The Nauvoo Legion in Utah had several calls
to service in early days. In 1849 a battle took
place at Battle Creek in Utah County in which
approximately three companies of militia drove
off Indians who were threatening Fort Utah. In
1853 militia units were called out to fight
against the Ute Indians in the Walker War, which
raged through Utah and Sanpete counties. Twenty
militia Soldiers were killed in the skirmishes.
From 1865 to 1867 the Legion again did Indian
duty in the Black Hawk War. An estimated 2,500
militiamen were mobilized to stop Indian raids
in the central and southern portions of Utah.
Numerous settlements were abandoned and about
ninety settlers and militiamen were killed.

The Nauvoo Legion also served against the
United States government in what was called the
Utah War of 1857-58. With a total force of
approximately 6,000 members, several units of
the northern Utah force were mobilized to stop
the entry of Albert Sidney Johnston's army into
Utah. The army had been sent by President James
Buchanan to quell what in the East had been
described as a rebellion of the Utah people
against the government. The Nauvoo Legion held
Johnston's forces at bay near Fort Bridger until
an agreement was worked out for the army to pass
through Salt Lake City and establish a post at
Camp Floyd, about forty miles southwest of Salt
Lake City.

The Nauvoo Legion was given federal
duty during the Civil War to guard the mail and
freight routes from Independence Rock to Salt
Lake City. Two troops of cavalry carried out
this duty, but only one of them, led by Captain
Robert T. Burton, was officially credited for
service. In 1857 a major blotch on the generally
honorable service of the early militia took
place when Nauvoo Legion members of the Iron
County Military District participated in the
murder of 120 immigrants of the Fancher Party
that was moving through Utah to California. This
tragic event became known as the Mountain
Meadows Massacre.

By 1870 the Nauvoo Legion became embroiled in
political problems between the federally
appointed territorial officials and the local
Mormon religious leaders. It was felt that the
militia took its orders from the religious
leaders of the church and paid little heed to
the orders of the government. One manifestation
of this was an incident of 1870 when the
Governor of Utah, J. Wilson Shaffer, removed the
commander of the Nauvoo Legion, Daniel H. Wells
(a Mormon) and replaced him with Colonel Patrick
Connor (a non-Mormon). This was later followed
by the Nauvoo Legion marching in public parades
even though the Governor had issued orders not
to parade. This led to charges of treason and a
threat to execute the Soldiers who violated
these orders. This never happened, but it did
lead to continued controversy over the Nauvoo
Legion.

The final action against the Nauvoo Legion
came in 1887 when Congress passed the
anti-polygamous Edmunds-Tucker Act, which has as
one of its provisions that the Nauvoo Legion was
to be eliminated. From 1887 to the establishment
of the Utah National Guard in 1894 there was no
militia organization in Utah Territory, a
situation which Utah citizens held was
unconstitutional. During those years a number of
unofficial groups organized with the intention
of serving as posse comitatus when called upon,
but in reality they acted as "marching clubs" to
march in the political demonstrations for their
parties during elections. These groups, although
not official militias, carried the "militia
spirit" over to the time of the establishment of
the Utah National Guard.

Since its organization, the Utah National
Guard has been called to duty on several
occasions, both within the State and during wars
outside the United States. One of its major
functions has been to preserve peace during
labor strikes. Three weeks after the Guard was
organized in 1894, it was called to Ogden to
control a group of unemployed workers, estimated
at 1,200 men, who were moving through Utah as
"Kelley's Army," a part of the Coxey's Army
movement. In 1903 and 1904 units of the National
Guard were sent to Carbon County to keep peace
during a coal miners' strike. There were no
casualties during this service. In 1922 the
Guard was again sent on strike duty for three
months after strike violence had killed two coal
company personnel. Again the Guard restored
peace to the area. In 1933 a few guardsmen
assisted the Highway Patrol troopers in keeping
order during a strike in Carbon County. In
general the strike duty of the Guard was
conducted in a reasonable way which prevented
loss of life and destruction of property, and
helped restore order to the Carbon County
communities.

In times of national crises during war
periods the Utah National Guard has been called
into federal service. During the
Spanish-American War of 1898 several Utah
National Guard units enlisted into the federal
army and were sent to Florida, California and
the Philippine Islands. Artillery Batteries A
and B of Artillery were especially noted for
their fighting in the Philippines. In 1916 two
squadrons of cavalry, a battery of artillery,
and a field hospital unit were mobilized and
sent to the Mexican border at Nogales, Arizona
to patrol a l00-mile section of the border west
of Nogales. In their border service the Utah
Guard units had several encounters with Mexican
crossing the border.

Immediately after their Mexican border duty,
the Utah units were reorganized into the 145th
Field Artillery Regiment and became a part of
the 40th Division which included Utah, Nevada,
and California units. On 17 October 1917 the
145th Field Artillery of Utah was inducted into
federal service. They were sent to Camp Kearney,
California where they remained for about a year
in training. While in California 369 men were
taken out of the regiment and sent as
replacements in American front line units in
Europe. There were several casualties among this
group. In August 1917 the 145th started its move
to Europe and ended up at Camp De Souge near
Bordeaux, France. They trained for front line
duty and were making preparations to move to the
front when the Armistice ended the war.

In the years between World War I and World
War II new units were added to the Utah National
Guard, and in 1926 a permanent training camp,
Camp Williams, was created on some 18,700 acres
of land south of Salt Lake City which had been
withdrawn from the public domain in 1914. New
units assigned to Utah included, besides the
l45th Field Artillery, the 222nd Field
Artillery, the 204th Field Artillery, the 115th
Engineers, the 115th Medical Regiment, and the
115th Ordnance Company. These units were called
on 3 March 1941 into federal service for what
was intended to be a year of training, but
before the year ended the United States declared
war against the Axis powers and the units were
kept in the federal service until the end of the
war. All of the Utah units, except the 204th
Field Artillery, saw action with the 40th
Division in the Pacific Theater at campaigns on
Luzon, Panay and Negro in the Philippine
Islands. The 204th fought at Cherbourg and on
the European Front.

After World II ended, the Utah National Guard
units returned to their home state, and in the
years following new organizations were added,
namely, the 213th Field Artillery and the 653rd
Field Artillery Observation Battalion. Also, a
new branch of the service was added in 1946 with
the organization of the Utah Air National Guard
which included the 191st Fighter Squadron, the
191st Utility Flight, the 191st Weather Station,
and the 244th Air Service Group.

During the Korean War several Utah National
Guard units were activated to fight in Korea.
The units activated were the 204th Field
Artillery; the 213th Field Artillery; the 145th
Field Artillery; the 115th Engineers; the 653rd
Field Artillery Observation Battalion; the 191st
Fighter Squadron; and the 130th Aircraft Control
and Warning Flight, and the 210th Tow Target
Flight. The 145th Field Artillery saw action at
Heartbreak Ridge and the Punch Bowl, and the
213th Field Artillery received a Silver Star
Citation for having captured and destroyed a
Chinese Regiment. The Berlin Cold War crisis
brought the call-up of several Utah National
Guard units. This activation brought into
federal service the Headquarters Battery of the
XI Corps Artillery; the Target Acquisition
Battalion of the 140th Field Artillery; the
115th Engineer Battalion; the 115th Ordnance
Company; the 3659 Ordnance Company; the 144th
Army Field Evacuation Hospital; and the 116th
Light Equipment Engineer Company These units
were on active duty for a period of ten months
during 1961 and 1962. All Utah units served
within the United States at various military
posts.

During the Vietnam War no Army Utah National
Guard units were activated, however some
individuals did volunteer for Vietnam duty. The
Utah Air National Guard 151st Military Airlift
Group, organized in August, 1957, from 1966
through 1971 flew 96 missions carrying 1,340
tons of cargo in direct support of Vietnam. It
flew 110 missions with uncounted tons of cargo
to Southeast Asia, Korea, Europe, and Central
and South America in indirect support of the
Vietnam conflict.